


ties

by springsoldier (ladydaredevil)



Series: b-sides (SW lawyers AU) [1]
Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Gen, MCU fusion, SW Lawyers AU, which is not very relevant for this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-16
Updated: 2016-05-16
Packaged: 2018-06-08 18:06:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6867841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladydaredevil/pseuds/springsoldier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kanan Jarrus loses his name, gets a law degree, and acquires a family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	ties

**Author's Note:**

  * For [QueenWithABeeThrone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenWithABeeThrone/gifts).



> So in this 'verse (which is QueenWithABeeThrone's and if you haven't read it, you should), Ahsoka's a Daredevil equivalent, Rey's kinda Jessica Jones, and Kanan is... their office neighbour. But hey, in case anyone cares, this is his side of the story.
> 
> Also Nick Fury and Mace Windu are the same person and Depa Billaba was a SHIELD agent.

Depa Billaba is the closest thing Caleb Dume has to family, growing up. Which is a little sad, considering that she’s just the lady who comes visit him once a month at the group home.

He doesn’t really know _why_ , either, only that she’s done it as far back as he can remember. She says she knew his parents, but she won’t tell him about them.

She’s not easy to impress, and she thinks he asks too many questions, sometimes, but she likes him, maybe even _loves_ him, so he’ll take it.

“Why can’t I come live with you?”

“My life is – very complicated, Caleb.” She doesn’t make him promises, but he thinks if she were a little less kind she would add _maybe someday_.

She may not want to give him false hopes, but they’re there anyway. The other kids whisper, sometimes, that maybe she’s his real mom and she gave him up, but that’s just stupid. She’s not his mom, but she’s _something_.

 

Things change when he’s twelve and has long given up on the idea of anyone adopting him – he’s not a troublemaker, exactly, he’s just curious. And maybe he talks too much, sometimes. But he’s way too old now, everybody knows that. 

He hasn’t seen her in two months, but he’s not really _worried_. She’ll come back, she always does. And he's right: she shows up one afternoon, looking a little different. She’s limping, and a little bruised, but she seems lighter than before.

“I had a dangerous job”, she says “and I can’t tell you much more than that. But I’m changing careers, so I would be able to take care of you. If you wanted me to, of course.”

She’s going to be a lawyer now, she tells him, once she finishes studying. Caleb thinks that sounds pretty cool.

For the next three years he has – well, a mother, though he can’t quite bring himself to call her that. Depa doesn’t really have a family, either, but she does have friends. Mr. Jinn and Mr. Windu are kind of intimidating, but Grey and Styles and all the others – they become _his_ , too. 

Even if he has a hard time telling when they’re just making fun of him, and he really wishes they’d stop calling him _kid._

There are a lot of things they don’t talk about in front of him, he knows. But it doesn’t matter, not when Depa tells him about the classes she’s taking, and gets him celebratory ice cream when she graduates, and later lets him hang around her office when she’s not too busy.   

She lets him help on her cases, sometimes. She says he has a good mind for it, quick and inquisitive. He thinks he’ll be a lawyer too, someday.

When he tells her, she smiles.

 

One night, they come for her.

“Run, Caleb! I’m right behind you!” she says, and he thinks it’s the first time she’s lied to him.

He doesn’t see her for a long time after that.

 

Mr. Windu tracks him down a few days after that. Caleb had done what he’d practiced with Depa, in case something happened – she’d never explained what, exactly, might happen, and he’d always been curious but now that he knows he really wishes he could forget. He got himself a motel room, somewhere they won’t care about his age, and didn’t move until she came for him.

She doesn’t come.

Mr. Windu looks tired, and in pain, and has a bandage over his eye.

“It’ll be alright, kid,” he says.

Caleb learns about SHIELD. That Depa was an agent, and a really good one, too. That she left after a mission went wrong, that she was betrayed by people she thought were friends. People who want her dead now, because of things she knows. That the situation is under control, for the moment, but that they’re still in danger.

They give him new papers, a new identity. They let him choose the name, at least. He stays in New York, because there are enough people that it’s a good cover.

 

So he loses Depa – not entirely, because she’s alive, she’s still _alive_ even if they can’t communicate much because there are still people after her– and he doesn’t realise until then that she was the only constant in his life but she was, because when she’s gone he feels adrift.

He knows that Windu tries to keep an eye on him, but he’s a busy guy, and Jinn just looks sad all the time when he looks at him. And the others, well. He’ll hopefully never see them again.

 

He gets placed with a man named Janus Kasmir for a while. Who’s not a good man, exactly, but Windu trusts him and he likes Caleb – Kanan, his name is Kanan now – well enough. Kanan leaves as soon as he can, because he’s not going to risk getting comfortable there, not this time.  

Kanan Jarrus doesn’t have a family, and he certainly doesn’t want to be a lawyer. He finishes high school out of necessity and takes odd jobs, not all of them entirely legal.

He gets to talk to Depa, sometimes, on secure lines. She always sounds happy to hear from him, but he knows she worries about his future. She wishes she could come back, or that he could come join her, but it’s too dangerous, too unstable a life, and she doesn’t want that for him.

He tries not to be angry about that.

He makes a series of bad life choices: sleeps around and picks fights and drinks too much, because what does it matter what he does anyway?

He lands a bartending gig and stays, because the money’s good and he likes it. He’s barely legal himself, but it’s enough of a dive that nobody cares.

 

It’s where he meets Hera Syndulla, police cadet.

She likes fast cars and can probably kick his ass and has, for some reason, decided to frequent his bar.

He falls for her pretty much instantly. It takes her a few years to catch up.

Zeb, the new bouncer, thinks he’s kind of pathetic, and Kanan’s not really going to argue the point. Partly because Zeb’s twice his size, but also because he’s right.  Though she _does_ keep coming back and the beer isn’t that good, so she must like him at least a little, right?

 

The problem with Hera, other than her not liking him as much as he likes her, is that she’s terrifyingly perceptive:

“Don’t you want to be more than a bartender?”  she asks one night, taking small sips of her second drink of the night. She always sits at the bar, when she comes on her own. Sometimes they talk, though she always shuts down any attempts at flirting.

“There’s nothing wrong with being a bartender.”

Her hand finds his over the countertop and her gaze is clear, piercing. She knows him too well already and it should make him want to run, but he just wishes she would let him closer.

“I know, Kanan. But do you really think it’s right for you?”

He thinks of sitting in Depa’s kitchen and quizzing her with those flashcards she’d made, suddenly. Of the million questions he used to ask her, about contracts and why was that a crime and how did you _know_ if someone really did it?  

He looks up admissions to Columbia.

 

She’s not the only one who can ask questions, though.

“Why become a cop? You know how corrupt the system is,” he asks her another night, when she’s drinking cheap gin and complaining about her final exams at the academy.

“Well, my first choice was to be an astronaut, but that didn’t pan out.”

He laughs, but he can picture it. If anyone belongs in space, it’s Hera Syndulla.

“Hey, it might not be too late.”

She shakes her head at him.

“I wanted to do _something_. I’m not naïve, I know – I know what goes on in this city, but I can still protect people. My father spent his whole life leading protests… I chose a different path.”

He may not agree, but they want to help people, the both of them. She’s reminded him of that and he thinks he might love her for it.

 

Kanan’s always appreciated Zeb because he’s very good at keeping angry drunks from hurting each other and other people. It’s not that Kanan can’t handle himself, but he lacks the sheer strength needed to throw them out on their asses.

But since Zeb’s job mostly consists of standing around while looking intimidating, he gets bored. Which makes him surprisingly willing to help Kanan study for his finals.

“I don’t get _why_ you’d want to cram all that stuff into your head though. I mean, who the fuck cares about the numbers of votes needed for the UN to pass a motion.”

“I don’t _want_ to, but how else am I gonna pass this class? Quiz me again.”

And Zeb grumbles, but he does. 

 

Law school is a pain but Kanan makes it through. When he graduates Depa sends him a suit and a tailor’s address, but more importantly she sends him tickets to London, where she’s currently based. And they’ve talked, sure, but they haven’t s _een_ each other in so long that it’s a little overwhelming.

She looks different, when she greets him at the airport. Weary and always on edge, even though it’s been a long time now. But she looks so, so glad to see him, and maybe he cries a little when she calls out to him, by his old name. 

He tells her about Hera and Zeb, and that he’s going to be a defense lawyer. She says _yes, you will be._ He doesn’t cry when he tells her goodbye but he holds onto her for a long time.

 

He first kisses Hera the day he passes the bar. It’s a spur of the moment thing, after she tells him the results he was too anxious to read himself. She makes a startled noise but doesn’t pull away. She rests her head on his chest, after.

“I couldn’t have done it without you,” he says, breathless with excitement and relief and the feeling that something is going to _change_.

“That’s not true.” She pats his chest affectionately. “It was all you, my friend.”

“Is that what we are?”

She pulls away and rolls her eyes.

“You know I don’t date. Married to my work and everything.”

“Hey, I'll take what I can get. I could be your torrid affair, if you were okay with that.”

She smiles up at him.

“You know, I think I might be.”

 

He doesn’t actually quite _remember_ getting married – and the only thing that makes him feel less awful about that is that she remembers it even less. 

He remembers an ill-advised trip to Vegas with Zeb, and running into Rex, one of Hera’s colleagues. They end up serving as witnesses.

And Hera doesn’t drink much, usually, but she’d gotten a promotion and they were in _Vegas_ , so. 

Well, they have video, at least.

They _could_ get an annulment, really. He even offers to do the paperwork, if somewhat half-heartedly. She just laughs and calls him an idiot and calls him _her husband_ as she pushes him back into bed. He has a hard time thinking about anything for a while after that.

When they get home, he gives her the ring he’d bought on impulse embarrassingly early in their relationship and stashed at the bottom of his sock drawer.

Depa’s not happy with him, when he gets around to telling her the whole story.

“I can’t _believe_ you didn’t invite me.”

“We didn’t invite anyone! It just… happened.”

She makes him swear to tell her about any potential vows renewal.

 

Sabine he meets during his brief stint as a public defender, the only job he could land after school. He’d done well enough, but spent more time working nights than he should’ve if he’d wanted the GPA he needed for a shiny corporate job. Well, that’s not entirely true. Windu offered, but he’s done with that part of his life and he won’t take something offered out of obligation or guilt.

 Sabine’s not exactly innocent, but she also got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, and has unfortunate family connections. Though he can’t quite figure out why the Visla clan can’t be bothered to send her a good lawyer –

“They did”, she interrupts. “I just told them to go fuck themselves.”

Kanan likes that girl.

“Hey”, he tells her after he gets her off a drug trafficking charge. He couldn’t do anything about fine and community service for vandalism, though. She still had paint under her fingernails. “Do you have anywhere to go?” 

She looks at him suspiciously but does not, in fact, have anywhere to go, so he takes her home with him. She and Hera get along great, and she somehow never quite gets around to leaving.

 

Hera’s job is dangerous, that was never in question. Hera’s side job, Kanan learns, might arguably be more so.

“What do you _mean_ you work for Fulcrum?”

He can admit to having some interest in this new vigilante that’s cropped up, for all that her methods are a bit too brutal for his tastes. He can’t deny it gets results. He just never expected to have anything to do with her, personally.

“I give her information. On ongoing cases, on people I think might be corrupt. On things I see get covered up. Look, I know I should’ve told you sooner, but I didn’t want you to worry.”

Kanan’s past worried and into terrified. But corruption is rampant in the police force and if she’s sure it’s the right thing to do –

He may not believe in much, but he believes in Hera.

 

He meets Fulcrum twice.

The first time, Hera has important documents to pass on to her – he takes a look at them and, yeah. This is incriminating stuff – but she has a nasty flu and there’s not way she’s getting out of bed, duty or not.

“Are you _sure_ no one could link you to this?”

“I’m not sure of anything, love. But I do have a good lawyer.”

“It’s not a lawsuit I’m scared of.”

“I know. But you know why I have to.”

He really does.

 

Fulcrum cuts an impressive figure, perched above him on a fire escape.

“You must be Kanan,” she says, head tilted to the side. Which is somewhat worrying, because he’s fairly certain Hera doesn’t just chat about her home life with her. So he nods, gives her the documents, and makes a hasty retreat, because he really doesn’t want to get mixed up in any of it.

The second time he meets her is somewhat more embarrassing:

He stumbles upon a mugging, one night, and intervenes before he can really ask himself what it is, exactly, that he’s going to do. He’s held his own in more than a few bar fights but these – these aren’t just angry assholes. They have actual training – what did he get himself into, exactly? – and he’s outnumbered.  He gets in a few good hits but, he winds up backed against a wall pretty quick. At least the woman they’d cornered took the opportunity to flee.

Fulcrum makes a timely appearance, and the ones who don’t flee get knocked out pretty fast. Whoever she is, Kanan has to admit, she’s _good_.

Then she turns to him.

“You okay? That was dumb. Really brave, but dumb.”

 “You’re one to talk.”

She laughs.

“Tell Hera I said hi. And leave the vigilantism to the experts!” She gives him a salute and vanishes back into the darkness.

He doesn’t know until after he’s signed the lease on his new office that Tano & Kenobi, down the hall, are notorious for their connection to Fulcrum.

Oh, and that the PI downstairs has super-strength. The realtor didn’t mention that one, either. 

 

Ezra steals his wallet.

He’s still moving things into his new office – only new in the sense that he’s only just moving into it, the place’s a shithole, but he’s going solo and he’s not exactly rolling in money – when it happens. 

The kid might have quick fingers, but he also has blue hair that makes him very, very easy to find in a crowd and, frankly, he’s not the first _or_ the best pickpocket Kanan’s ever encountered.

He manages to corner him in an alley, gets him to hand over the wallet, and then finds himself at a bit of a loss.  

He can’t even really be mad. He could, hypothetically, bring the kid down to the station. He was heading there soon anyway, to bring Hera lunch.

Except he looks at him, skinny and defiant and _fuck it_.

“Hey kid, you seem like you could use a job.”

No one’s ever looked at him that incredulously before, but he needed someone to do his paperwork anyway.

 

“What the hell is _that_?”

The thing makes a sort of grumbling noise, and tries to run him over. 

“His name’s Chopper.”

“Is it, now.”

“He’s my science project. Hera said I could keep him.”

The damn thing stays despite Kanan’s protests.

 

Hera’s apartment was never meant to house this many people, but they make it work.

Sabine has commandeered the living room at the moment, because there’s better lighting. She also _needs_ that eardrum-shattering electro music to work, apparently.

Zeb is yelling at Chopper from the kitchen, but nothing seems to be on fire so he’ll leave them be.  

Hera’s tearing apart their room looking for that _one_ wrench she absolutely needs.

Kanan sighs and turn up the volume on his laptop. He loves them, but they’re _loud_.

“Oh, hey, are you talking to Depa?” Ezra asks, leaning over the back of the couch. He’s enthusiastic enough that he draws in the others. Kanan wraps an arm around Hera and wipes a smudge of paint off of Sabine’s cheek when they sit down on either side of him, Zeb finding a spot on the floor to fit in the camera angle. 

“When are you coming to visit?” Sabine asks. She likes Depa, because Depa indulges her artistic whims. A little too much, if you ask Kanan.

Depa doesn’t look sad anymore when she answers:

“When I can.”

They all chat for a while and Kanan is content to hang back, feeling oddly satisfied with his lot in life.

 “Look at you, Caleb.” Depa says, laughing, once the others have wandered away. “A real family man.”

“Yeah,” he answers, the warm feeling expanding in his chest. “Who would’ve thought?”


End file.
